1. Like
as the waves make
towards the pebbled shore,
2. So do our minutes hasten to their end;
3. Each changing place with that which goes before,
4. In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
5. Nativity, once in the main of light,
6. Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
7. Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
8. And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
9. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
10. And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
11. Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
12. And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
13. And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand
14. Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

The sonnet
is a meditation on mortality.
Almost as an afterthought the beloved is mentioned, in the final line,
as
one who might be preserved from the total oblivion of time's
destruction.
But despite its defiance, the closing couplet hardly rescues the reader
from the thought that everything that is mortal must perish, for our
minutes,
and the minutes of our remembrance, move ever forward as irrevocably as
the waves move forward, beating ceaselessly on the shore.

The sonnet seems to
be placed deliberately at this
point, as number 60, to coincide with the 60 minutes of the hour, just
as
No.12 marks the twelve hours of the day. There is even a pun included
in
line 2, (hour minutes) so that the reader need not
lose his/her bearings
in the sequence.

THE 1609
QUARTO VERSION

60

L

Ike as the waues
make towards
the pibled ſhore,
So do our minuites haſten to their end,

Each
changing place with that
which goes before,
In ſequent toile all forwards do contend.
Natiuity once in the maine of light,
Crawles to maturity,wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked eclipſes gainſt his glory fight,
And time that gaue,doth now his gift confound.
Time doth tranſfixe the floriſh ſet on youth,
And delues the paralels in beauties brow,
Feedes on the rarities of natures truth,
And nothing ſtands but for his ſiethe to mow.
And yet to times in hope,my verſe ſhall ſtand
Praiſing thy worth,diſpight his cruell hand.

1.
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,

1.
Like as In like manner to the way
in which; make towards = proceed in the direction
of (OED 35.b.)
make as a verb of motion is not common, and
perhaps derives form
the word in combination, as below:

Make we our
march towards Birnam. Mac.V.2.31.

It is still found in
modern usage, as e.g. 'You
make for the train while I make for the ticket office'.pebbled - editors generally emend Q's pibled
to pebbled. There
were many old spellings for pebble, of which pible was
one.

2. So do
our minutes hasten
to their end;

2. The
imagery is of the disappearance and dissipation
of each wave as it beats on the shore. The sea as such is not an
obvious
simile of human life, as it continues almost forever, whereas our life
so
patently has an ending. But the individual waves mimic the
disappearance
of the minutes. (See the comment on our minutes above
in the Introductory
note).

3. Each changing place with
that which goes before,

3. Waves
appear to change place with each other.
As one rolls away, another takes its place.

4. In
sequent toil all forwards
do contend.

4. In
sequent toil = in consecutive laborious
procession. toil suggests exhausting labour, and
perhaps the harshness
of life's journey. The word toil is often connected
with the strife
of battle, (OED.n(1).1 & 2), and the idea is perhaps of the
waves marching
forward to contend, or fight, as lines of troops do
in a battle.

5.
Nativity, once in the
main of light,

5. Nativity
= birth. Here a new born
child is implied, and nativity is abstract for concrete. Compare the
similar
use by Falstaff:

I hope good
luck lies in odd numbers. Away I
go. They say there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity,
chance,
or death. Away! MW.V.1.4-5.

the main of
light
- the full glare of light. the main refers to the
sea, and being
in the main implies being in the open sea. In the main of light is
therefore
'in the open sea of light', 'where the light is most bright and
unhindered'.

6. Crawls to maturity, wherewith
being crown'd,

6. Crawls
- as a baby crawls. Also suggestive
of slowness, as the years of youth seem wonderfully long until they are
gone. And in addition of the slowness and crabbedness of age.
wherewith = with which i.e. maturity.

7.
Crooked eclipses 'gainst
his glory fight

7. Crooked
eclipses = malignant eclipses
of sun or moon. Any heavenly eclipse was considered to be a dangerous
event.
Reversals of fortune could be attributed to their influence. eclipses
therefore has a general meaning of 'blight caused by
ill fortune', 'setbacks'
etc. An eclipse may also be described in terms of the struggle of
darkness
against the light, as here, where the darkness fights against the glory
of the sun, but figuratively against the glory of youth and maturity.
his glory - his refers to nativity, maturity,
youth, perfection.

8. And
Time that gave doth
now his gift confound.

8. his
gift - Time's gift is presumably
life itself, but all the accessories of life could be included, wealth,
comfort, long age, posterity and so on.
confound = destroy, overturn, . See 5, 8, 63, 64. The basic
meaning
is from Latin confundere - to pour together, to
mingle things together
in disorder. (OED 6) The general idea is that the elements that make up
an individual are subsequently mingled together in the common mass.

9. Time
doth transfix the
flourish set on youth

9. As SB
points out the meaning is fairly evident
but explaining it is another matter. flourish may
be taken as the
'heyday of perfection, the glory (of youth)', derived from the Latin
verb
florere, to bloom, to blossom, to be in one's
prime. It is used in
related meanings, frequently, for example, as a stage direction - Flourish
of trumpets - meaning a fanfare of trumpets, or else simply
as the single
word Flourish. That is its most common use in
Shakespeare. Here it
suggests something like superlative appearance, supreme perfection, the
ornament of youthfulness. There are no comparable uses elsewhere in
Shakespeare.
In Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise LLL.II.1.13-4.
and
Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune! R3.I.3.241.
'flourish' does not appear to have the same signification. Onions gives
'ostentatious embellishment, gloss, varnish', but those meanings are
somewhat
too harsh and pejorative to fit with ease here. transfix usually means to run through, to
pierce, as with a lance
or sword, hence, by extension, to destroy. Time is the enemy which cuts
down and destroys all things that are beautiful and transfixes them in
perpetual
rigor mortis.

10. And
delves the parallels
in beauty's brow,

10. delves
the parallels = digs the furrows.
parallels were defensive ditches often used
in siege warfare. The
imagery here, with the word delve, and mowing in line 12, seems more to
refer to husbandry and the parallel lines drawn by the plough in the
field.,
or by the spade, if ploughs were not used. These lines are compared to
the
wrinkles which line the forehead as 'beauty' grows older.

11. Feeds
on the rarities
of nature's truth,

11. the
rarities of nature's truth -
the image appears to be that of a beast or monster feeding on rare
items.
The presence of truth in the line and the
difficulty of explaining
the meaning of the phrase nature's truth may be
partly due to the
necessity of rhyme. truth always rhymes with youth
in the
Sonnets, whenever either word occurs at the end of the line. (6 times).
Shakespeare does not use the phrase elsewhere, but I assume it is
similar
to the truth of honour in

....she,
having the truth of honour in her,
hath made him that gracious denial which he is most glad to receive. MM.III.1.162-4.

and it acts as an
intensifier, as if it were 'pure,
uncorrupted honour'. Thus nature's truth = nature
itself, nature
in its infinite expansion and perfection.

12. And
nothing stands but
for his scythe to mow:

12. stands
= exists, grows (as in the
phrase 'standing corn' for corn which has reached maturity).
his scythe = Time's scythe. The scythe was used for mowing
hay. Time
and Death were frequently portrayed carrying a scythe. (See the woodcut
engraving above).

13. And
yet to times in hope,
my verse shall stand

13. stand
- see above. Also with the
sense of 'stand up to', 'defy', since to times is
to be taken with
the verb. Thus 'my verse, as a beacon of hope, will stand against all
consuming
time, both now, and for all times in the future'.

14.
Praising thy worth, despite
his cruel hand.

14. thy
worth - although the poem in
a sense leads up to this, it is the only mention of the youth in the
poem.
the rarities of nature's truth and the
flourish set on youth
however may be taken as elliptical references to the beloved.
his cruel hand - Time's cruel hand.